50 Fascinating Facts About WWE in The 1980s
23. They Played The Wrong Tape At SummerSlam 1989
This is too good.
At SummerSlam 1989, famous stick man 'Mean' Gene Okerlund let out an infamous "f*ck it" gaffe live on air. Or, at least, that's how it seemed to viewers watching on pay-per-view at home. The truth is even more outlandish, because the WWF had the chance to delete this unfortunate blooper from the show so nobody would ever see it. After all, Okerlund's botched promo with Rick Rude and Bobby Heenan had been pre-recorded earlier in the afternoon.
The trio regathered their thoughts and filmed a retake, but staff in the federation's production truck accidentally aired the wrong footage come show time. As a result, Gene's swear-laced outburst when the SummerSlam set behind him fell down beamed live on the actual pay-per-view broadcast. What an outstanding mess from a promotion that had become renowned for slick production.
Not on this occasion. Bruce Prichard told this story on his fan favourite podcast series, 'Something To Wrestle With'. Co-host Conrad Thompson couldn't believe what he was hearing as Bruce recalled everyone's reaction to the wrong tape being played. On commentary, Tony Schiavone and Jesse Venture were blindsided by the mistake. Both audibly broke character and didn't really know what to say in response.
How brilliant is that?! The WWF screwed themselves over by failing to make sure the right tape was lined up in between matches. Rude's face in the screenshot above says it all. That's a man who's eager to get through the night because he knows he's working The Ultimate Warrior for 16 long minutes.
On that, bet the staffer responsible became 'The Ultimate Worrier' about getting fired.